As a guy, I can only imagine how difficult it must be for women to shop for intimate apparel. There’s an astounding variety of bras, panties, and shapewear on display in every clothing store’s lingerie department, and the hunt for the right piece must feel overwhelming when you don’t know exactly which style, size, and color you want to buy. Also, intimate apparel is just that – intimate. It must be difficult to ask for help from salespeople who are total strangers, or have other shoppers watch what you pull off the rack, when the items you’re looking at are normally hidden from the outside world. So, it’s not at all surprising that I usually receive confused, anxious, suspicious, and sometimes even angry looks from women when I walk into an intimate apparel department. But I wonder how many women take a moment to think about how uncomfortable most men are who have to make their way into such foreign territory, or the real reason the men are there? […]

Perhaps the most controversial article of clothing in fashion history has been the brassiere or, as it’s more commonly known, the bra. It’s been both revered (for its abilities to reduce or enlarge perceived breast size, restrain movement during exercise, and enhance cleavage) and reviled (by those who’ve felt it’s exemplified the way women’s clothing has shaped, controlled, and even deformed, women’s bodies to conform to a male-dominated society’s desires). So, how appropriate that this feminine icon has moved from fashion’s underside to its topside, so to speak, in an increasingly public world. […]

Have you ever wondered how those pretty, two-toned designs on bras and shapewear, like those shown in this picture, are created? Those effects are generated by a process called delustering, a printing process applied during the production of fabric.

When creating pigment prints, fabric mills use liquid chemical solutions or “binder systems” to enable fabrics to hold onto their colors after patterns are printed onto them. Such “systems” consist of a liquid acrylic, wetting agents, a fabric softener, and a catalyst. The process is permanent and prevents the color on the fabric from either washing out during laundering, or from rubbing off during the normal course of daily wear. […]

Conventional wisdom says that shapewear is only worn by the less-active among us, those who aren’t able to achieve the looks we want through a combination of diet and exercise. But after listening to a lot of stories from many of my coworkers, I’ve discovered that there’s increasingly good reason to challenge this notion. The truth is that, with their new technology, shapewear garments are making the move from the office, supermarket, and fancy restaurant to the sports field, bike path, and ski slope. They’re being used unexpectedly as baselayers and fit shorts in a variety of activities, in ways having nothing to do with their intended functions. Typically, these clever applications are the brain children of teenage girls – the daughters of today’s conventional shapewear consumers. […]

Featured Posts

By Tony Angelino Cupid® Are the days of sewing lingerie with needle and thread numbered? Times are changing, and the apparel industry in the United States, where sewing operators used to number more than 700,000, has become a small fraction of its former size. The up-and-coming centers of clothing production are now located in Asia, […]

By Adam Welsch Naomi & NicoleÂ® Today is International Women’s Day.Â First celebrated in a few European countries on March 19, 1911, the date was changed to March 8th in 1913 and today is observed in more than seventy countries around the world.Â Originally, its purpose was to generate support for the fight by women […]

By Adam Welsch Miraclesuit® Shapewear Today marks the 88th anniversary of the publication of the inaugural edition of TIME® Magazine, America’s first weekly news magazine. As a fixture of newsstands, libraries, waiting rooms, and coffee tables across the country, TIME® has played a central role in the coverage of political, economic, foreign-affairs, and scientific news. […]

By Marcy Montgomery Jones Naomi & Nicole® Sunday night was full of glamour and grace at the 2011 Academy Awards®. Whether you watched the Oscars® for the awards, the speeches, or the red-carpet display, you couldn’t ignore the beautiful gowns. Since the fashion seen Sunday will trickle down into our wardrobes in the coming months, […]

By Adam Welsch Naomi & Nicole® When you think about shapewear, which silhouette do you envision? Do you see a torsette, a bodybriefer, a pantliner, or a waist cincher? Chances are that you picture something more basic; chances are you see a brief. Briefs may not be exciting, but they address certain needs well. Think […]